A first taste

For many who grew up with the Civilization computer game series, the theme song to Civilization IV, called Baba Yetu (supposedly meaning Our Father in Swahili, as in the Christian prayer), was an astounding piece of music. I believe that the spirit of this song captures something of what I’m aiming at for this blog: humanity recap.

The official video for the song is rather awful in a sense – not just the graphics, but the exclusive focus on wars, politics and large monuments as a measure of greatness. It is also slightly too American to my taste personally. But the underlying attempt here to capture a sense of the achievements of humankind is not misplaced. The spirit of the song is indeed telling us: “This is the story of mankind.” And a great story it is, and has been. Despite the heavy focus on material achievements in the video, Baba Yetu is at heart a deeply spiritual tune which I today think of as a starting point for my philosophizing in this manner. So if you can listen to this beautiful piece with or without the video and get the sense of it, then you are half with me already for the journey ahead. Enough of the gloom and doom – make way for the greatness of spirit!